Squabble over AP farmers forces question hour ajdournment

Squabble over AP farmers forces question hour ajdournment
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NEW DELHI, DEC 18: The plight of farmers was today's excuse for forcing an adjournment of the Lok Sabha question hour. First the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), part of the ruling NDA, and then the Congress tried to hijack the farmers' issue in an apparent attempt to gain political mileage. The focus this time was on the farmers of Andhra Pradesh.

The usually unruffled Speaker G.M.C. Balayogi lost his temper when the Opposition, led by a vociferous Renuka Chaudhary, continued to heckle and disturb the proceedings of the House even after it assembled for the zero hour. They did not allow Minister for Food and Consumer Affairs Shanta Kumar to reply. Rashtriya Janata Dal's (RJD) Kanti Singh came into the well, followed by Raghvansh Prasad, but both were promptly sent back by the firm Speaker.

``You are talking about farmers. What interest do you have in their plight when you are not allowing the Government to reply?'' he scolded the members. When they continued with the ruckus, Balayogi reminded them that ``the entire country is watching how the honourable members are behaving on the important issue''.

It was the TDP which raised the issue at the start of the question hour in the morning. They stalled the proceedings demanding adjournment motion on the plight of the farmers in Andhra Pradesh. Loyalty to the state seemed to have gained precedence over the Central Government. Congress, RJD and Samajwadi Party also followed suit demanding a discussion on the farmers' issue. The Speaker said that they could take it up in the zero hour.

When the House assembled again, TDP MP K. Yerran Naidu charged the Food Corporation of India (FCI) of not fulfilling its promise of procuring paddy and rice from the farmers of Andhra Pradesh whose condition was pitiable. He said that the Andhra Chief Minister had written to the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister and also to the Minister for Food and Consumer Affairs but FCI had not acted. ``They had promised to procure 10 lakh tonnes of rice in December but had procured only 3.8 lakh tonne so far,'' he said.

Congress members, led by Renuka Chaudhary and Jaipal Reddy, tried to ridicule the TDP by asking them why they were raising the farmers' issue now, since did not vote on it. They charged them of trying to gain political mileage, an allegation which was soon flung back at the Congress. Members of both the parties kept shouting and nothing could be made out above the din.

Shanta Kumar, in a point-by-point reply to the issues raised by the members, said there was no basis to the charge that the Government was not doing anything. He said that the FCI had already procured 13,15,000 tonnes of rice and 11,000 tonnes of paddy in the state. The quality specification for buying up `swarna masoori' variety of rice had been relaxed from 10 per cent admixture to 13 per cent, he added.

He further assured the House that the Government was ready to procure paddy on the Punjab pattern, ie, state agencies procure 70 per cent and the FCI the remaining 30 per cent. The FCI had already procured 11,000 tonnes, whereas the state had only taken care of 900 tonnes, he pointed out. He also offered Bihar procurement on the Punjab pattern.